The tournament will be played to 7-a-side FIFA laws with no offside. The back-pass rule will apply. There will be rolling substitutions, which must take place from the halfway line. The player must leave the field before the substitute can enter play. A goal cannot be scored directly from the centre pass. It is the responsibility of the coach to ensure players leave the field of play and administer substitutions.

FREE KICKS:

All free kicks are direct and the opponents must be at least 5 metres from the ball (same applies for corners).

SCORING:

Points will be allocated = 4 points for a win / 2 for a draw / 1 for a loss.

In the case of a points-tie in the pool/league, the order will be decided by:

Head-to-head result
Goal difference
Goals for
Penalties (see below)

PLAYOFFS:

In the case of a draw at the end of full-time in the knockout stages, the following procedure will take place:

All knockout games move directly to a penalty area off the pitch in the dedicated penalty area.
Penalty Shootout- Each team will choose 7 players (including the goalkeeper) from their squad regardless of whether they were on the field of play at the final whistle. The teams will take 3 penalties each, followed by sudden death. If the scores are still equal, the players will take a second penalty until the game is decided.

MATCH DURATION

2 x 12-minute games (2 minutes half-time) for all games including playoffs and finals.

SUSPENSIONS

Any player receiving a red card will miss the next game. Two red cards will see a player expelled from the tournament. Any player receiving 2 yellow cards in group games will miss the next group game. All yellow cards will be cleared for the knock out stages. This rule reapplies for the knockout stages.

TEAMS and PLAYERS

Any team who fails does to meet the conditions below will be disqualified from tournament. At the discretion of the tournament organisers a disqualified team may be allowed to play games, but all results will be recorded as 3 – 0 defeats.

A team consists of a squad of no more than 12 players and a coach.
Each player can only play for only one team
A coach may be the coach for more than one team, but if so there must be an assistant coach to take over responsibility for one team, if both teams are playing at the same time.
Ages are calculated as of 1 August 2023 (if a player is 12 on 1 August 2022 they can play in U13 age group, but if they are 13 on 1 August 2023 they can NOT play U13 and would play in the U15 age group)
All players in the squad must meet the age requirements.
All players must be full-time students at the school they represent.

The Organising Committee reserves the right to make a final decision on any aspect of the rules.